Chapter 194 - Like Family
Chapter 194 – Like Family
Somehow after the events of the past couple of days, Lucy was beginning to feel quite different about herself. She was beginning to feel more confident, and she wasn't as scared to step out of her house and face life as she had been a while ago.
She couldn't tell what it was that had caused the change. Perhaps it was the sex with Tom, or it was because she had finally been able to open up to Tom concerning some parts of her past, or maybe it was because of Tom's feelings towards her which she largely reciprocated.
She wasn't exactly sure which it was. But whichever it was, that feeling had her humming a tune to herself as she drove over to the roadside bar where she had arranged to meet with Anita. She ordinarily would have felt anxious about meeting with Anita this time last week, but now she felt like there was nothing she couldn't handle.
Her plan for the evening was pretty simple. She was going to spend a maximum of one hour chitchatting with Anita and evading unnecessary questions, and after that she would return home to have dinner with Tom, Lucy thought with a happy smile as she drove into the parking lot of the bar.
Once she stepped out of her car she looked around the parking lot and rolled her eyes when her gaze fell on Anita's car which was already parked there. If it had been someone else who had come quite early for such a casual meeting she would have been impressed by their knack for being punctual as she always loved to keep to time herself, but seeing as it was Anita it only seemed to grate on her nerves. No matter what Anita does, it would always seem to her that Anita was only doing it to prove a point, Lucy thought as she walked into the bar.
She stopped by the entrance of the bar and looked around until her eyes settled on Anita who was seated on a barstool at the right end of the bar with a glass of wine in hand as she watched the local singer on the stage with a snooty expression on her face.
"You are early," Lucy commented as she approached her.
On hearing Lucy's voice Anita's lips pulled up in a small smile, "Yeah. Habit I guess. I like to be punctual to places I'm not very familiar with," Anita explained as she looked around the place with distaste.
And even though she sounded quite genuine, Lucy wasn't willing to buy anything she was selling that evening, "I see. It's my first time here too," Lucy said with a small smile as she glanced around the bar which didn't look anything like its name. How could you name a place 'Paradise' yet it looked so run-down?
"I see. Maybe you should let me be in charge of where we meet going forward, as I know my way around the city," Anita said, and Lucy smiled at her sweetly as she picked up her phone.
Although Lucy didn't also like the look of the place, she liked to know that Anita despised it more than her. Whatever Anita despised, she was going to like, "Whatever you say," Lucy said before glancing at a waiter who was standing beside her.
"Please can I have your least alcoholic drink? I can't hold my liquor and I will have to drive myself home," Lucy explained with an embarrassed smile which the waiter returned as he walked away to go find her something to drink.
"What about your driver? He works only during office hours?" Anita asked curiously.
"Tom? You seem very interested in my driver. Don't tell me you have a crush on him," Lucy asked with a teasing smile as she placed her phone on the table in front of them.
Anita's eyes widened in alarm at the thought that Lucy would think that someone like her would be interested in someone as lowly as Tom, "Of course not! Why would I have a crush on your driver?" Anita asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste.
"Why wouldn't you? Isn't he human?" Lucy countered in his defense.
"Sure, he is. But he's just not my type," Anita corrected with a stiff smile.
"You mean he isn't your spec? Not good-looking enough for you?" Lucy guessed playfully as the waiter set a glass of mocktail in front of her.
Although Anita wasn't exactly comfortable with the line of conversation, she knew she needed to play along with Lucy as that was the only way she could also get Lucy to be free with her, "Well, he looks decent quite alright, and he is undoubtedly good-looking. But let's face reality, what can someone like him do for me? We are not on the same level. I mean I know that other ladies may not mind getting involved with him, but I'm too ambitious to do that. I don't think someone like him can give me what I want," Anita said with a shrug.
"In other words, you're only interested in a man who has something to offer," Lucy concluded thoughtfully as she sipped from her glass of mocktail.
"Yeah."
"Someone like the CEO perhaps?" Lucy asked with a teasing smile, giving Anita the opening she needed.
Anita gave her a shy smile, "Well… Kind of. The CEO is good-looking, wealthy, ambitious, and powerful," Anita said with another shrug, glad that they were having such an easy conversation.
"Well, I don't think he's good-looking though. Not with those rough beards. He might look better without them. And I think he's pretty mean too," Lucy said, making Anita raise a brow.
"Mean? Even when everyone knows that he is always taking your side? Speaking of which, you said you were going to tell me something about your relationship with the CEO," Anita reminded Lucy.
"Oh! About that, yeah. Well, you won't believe what I found out," Lucy said in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Don't tell me he likes you," Anita said with wide eyes, making Lucy throw her head back to laugh.
"Why would you think that?" Lucy asked in amusement.
"Well, he acts that way so everyone thinks that," Anita explained.
"That's not true. Take for instance the way he embarrassed me today at the meeting. He wouldn't do something like that if he liked me, would he?" Lucy asked, making Anita realize that she wasn't aware that the CEO had scolded her after Lucy left the meeting hall.
"Maybe. So if that's not it, what did you discover then?" Anita asked curiously.
"You remember the CEO's brother recently got engaged? That's if you saw the news," Lucy said, and Anita gave her a nod.
"Of course, I saw the news."
"Well, his fiancee happens to be my best friend. Sonia Smith. So I guess the CEO is looking out for me because I'm like family to him. More like a sister-in-law," Lucy explained with a small smile, and Anita's lips rounded in surprise.
Now Anita wasn't sure which she hated most. The thought that the CEO liked Lucy, or the knowledge that she was like family to him. If she was like family to him already that meant that his parents and siblings already knew her.. And she didn't like it one bit.